College News

QE Law Students Interview Clients in Real-life Scenarios

A Level Law students from QE have had the exciting opportunity to engage with realistic legal clients in an interview workshop with Teesside University. Spread over two interactive sessions, the students began by meeting undergraduates and lecturers from the University who visited the College to demonstrate what to expect in client interviews and help develop a plan for the upcoming exchanges. Students were given fictional but realistic memos based on several areas of Law that they had previously studied in lessons before completing further research in pairs and preparing their questions. During the second session, the students interviewed their client (a Teesside University undergraduate) at the University’s Law Clinic providing them with the opportunity to participate in a realistic experience. The interviews were watched by Hannah Sellers, Director of Clinical Legal Education and head of the Law Clinic, and Ellie White, teacher of Law at QE, who gave individual feedback to students on their level of preparation, question and answers skills, and body language. The ‘client’ was also on hand to share their knowledge and observations.

Ruby Taylor, who studies A Level Law, Politics and Philosophy, Religion and Ethics at QE, comments: ‘I found the workshops very interesting. They provided a great insight into what a day at the Law Clinic is like and everyone was really welcoming. I feel that my confidence has developed with regards to speaking to people in a professional way. I’m glad that I was able to take part’. Alistair Garrow, who is enrolled on A Level Law, History and Economics, adds: ‘The sessions have been a fantastic opportunity to gain an insight into what it is like to interview a client. My confidence has grown and I have learnt how to find out key information which needs to be extracted during an interview’.

Ellie White concludes: ‘It was excellent to see students engage in this activity, the level of preparation was exceptional. Several of the participants did not know their partner prior to the first session but they worked together really well regardless. It was lovely to see their confidence improve over the workshops and all of the students completed brilliant interviews. Hannah remarked that the quality of the interviews made her forget that they were first year A Level students and not third year undergraduates with whom she usually works’.